The Rogue

XXIV

*Rian*

Someone plowed into me before I could finish the job. I rolled across the ground and sent sand spewing in every direction. Within seconds, my feet were under me again. Titus stood over Brian's body. Blood gushed out from the laceration across his throat, the wound my claws had opened.

Get out of my way! I roared into Titus' mind.

The only thing I could think of was the betrayal I felt upon seeing Brian's wolves rush over the desert hills. He'd intended to take Faye from the start, regardless of what I did to help him. A part of me knew never to trust him—Brian never pledged loyalty to me or my cause. In fact, we'd been enemies from the beginning.

Regardless of my low expectations, the sting of regret burned too hotly. I couldn't let him get away with this. He was backstabbing my pack, putting me at risk. This had to end now.

Faye will ki— Titus began before one of Brian's Rogues shoved him down. Their crashing bodies narrowly avoided crushing Brian.

My first instinct was to go after Brian again and finish the task I'd started, but I quickly remembered who I really had to be concerned with. One of the Rogues lunged at me. I ducked and rolled before spinning back on my feet. Now that he was on the ground, I pounced on the Rogue and buried my teeth into his neck.

Warm blood soaked my muzzle. The Rogue stopped squirming after a moment and the life fled from his eyes. I lifted my head while a shot of adrenaline blasted through me. My pack had now ascended from the desert mounds to join the fight. It wouldn't be a long one; Brian's Rogues were far outnumbered.

After taking down two more Rogues, I looked for Brian's body. He should have been close to bleeding out by now. Only as I looked, I didn't see him. Anywhere. I sniffed out his scent and hunted it in the direction of the apartments.

I caught Faye's scent along the way, too, though hers wasn't as strong. When Maxen had thrown her over his shoulder and hiked off, I let him. I knew he had her best interest in mind—no matter how much I didn't like it. Besides, it gave me the opportunity to end the life of the man who kept trying to tear us apart.

Her father was dragged or carried into Maxen's apartment through the broken back door. My ears detected worried voices before I even stepped inside the building.

"Heal him!" Maxen barked.

"I can't!" a woman shouted back. Her scent registered in my mind as the Healer who saved Titus. Michelle or whatever.

A roar shook the walls. I padded quietly through the dark space, relying on my canine senses to lead me. Faye's smell grew stronger along with her father's. Then I heard the sobs. They were muffled and indistinct yet full of heartbreak.

"I owe you nothing!" Michelle yelled. "We aren't even lovers anymore! You can't even hold that over my head!"

"What do you want from me?" her superior growled. "I'll give you whatever you want. Just heal him!"

At last, I came upon the bedroom door that separated me from the voices. It was Faye's room, the one that was bathed in her soft, floral aroma. I transitioned and pulled the door open.

A trail of blood caught my attention first. The streak of red seemed to glow in the fading beams of moonlight tracing from the door to the bed. Maxen and Michelle were standing beside the body in the bed, both now looking at me. Finally, there was Faye sitting on the edge of the bed. Her head bent in sorrow, and each sob violently shook her back. She hadn't noticed my entrance.

"Get out."

My eyes flickered to the source of the command. Maxen's gaze burned into me, the glare now a permanent fixture on his face. I was entirely overwhelmed by what I felt: the rage of my unfinished business lying half-alive on the bed, the crushing grief of my anima whose pain was slipping into my own heart, and the petulance at being told what to do.

"Did I stutter?" Maxen snarled at me. "Get. Out."

"This is ending now," I said coolly.

"You have done enough. If you don't leave, I will drag you out of this apartment alone."

My fingertips tingled with the urge to shift. "I'd like to see you try."

"Boy!" he bellowed as he took a step towards me.

Faye's hand jetted out to grab his wrist. Maxen immediately stilled. We all looked at the broken girl who refused to meet our gazes.

"Rian," she whispered, knowing I could hear, "please leave. There's nothing for you here."

There's nothing for you here. Her words bounced around my skull like a hollow echo. I stared at her, mentally pleading her to just lift her face to me. Those words...she couldn't mean them. Because nothing would imply her, too. And she was everything to me. She was the whole reason I was in this forsaken desert to begin with.

"Faye—"

"Maxen is right." She swallowed heavily. "You have done enough."

"You don't know what you're saying. Your father is ruthless. He's going to kill all—"

"Right now, I don't care. All I know is that he is still alive and Michelle," she said pointedly, now raising her head to shoot the bony girl a glare, "can heal him. You're only complicating things. Please, just go."

"You heard her." Maxen pointed at the door behind me. "Get out. Now."

This was madness. Things had been going so well. I was finally going to get Faye back. How had everything gone so horribly wrong? Oh, yeah. Her father decided to show up.

"I'm coming back," I declared on my way out.

Behind me, it sounded like I heard a sweet, soft voice reply, "Don't bother."